Memoirs of North America
by EowynAhsokaLover
Summary: Collection of Hetalia one-shots and drabbles, about Canada and America. Excerpt from ch. 6 " "I'm in the science department. I had to come. Besides, eclipses are really cool. I just don't know why we had to dress up." She found his hand and squeezed. "Hey, I see Kiku. Let's go talk to him." Amelia started to pull them over to their friend, who was standing outside the main passage
1. Chapter 1: Snowflake

**A/N:**First in a unconnected series of one-shots or drabbles about Hetalia, more specifically Canada and America, sometimes platonic, sometimes first one was written for Canada Day, but I don't know how they celebrate in Canada, so I wrote this instead. Next 'chapter' will probably come out tomorrow. Enjoy and review.

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**Snowflake**

Looking out of the window, Madeleine smiled. She turned and rushed past her parents into her brother's bedroom. He was still sleeping, sprawled over the bed and snoring into his Captain America pillow.

She shook him. "Alfred! Alfred, get up. You won't want to miss this."

He said groggily, "Not time for school yet. Not getting up."

"Alfred, get up! It's snowing."

With that one word, her brother sat up in bed, smiling despite just waking up. "Smiling, you sure?"

She sighed and grabbed his hand, towing him out of the bedroom to look out the large breakfast window. "See."

"Awesome! It's snowing! That means we get to miss school!" Alfed pressed his face up to the glass.

Madeleine turned to face her parents, who were laughing quietly from the breakfast table. "Do we get to miss school?"

Arthur's face hardened. "No, you do not."

Alfred turned to face their parents, face dejected. "No?"

Francis waved a hand in dismissal. "Ignore him. Of course you can stay home from school today." Looking back at his glaring partner, he said, "It's the first day of snow, _mon cher_, and theyy are still little."

Arthur pouted. "They need to have good habits, Francis." Madeleine raised her hand. Arthur asked, "Yes Madeleine?"

"Can we stay home?"

Arthur sighed. "Yes, tell your brother-"

"He's already left to get dressed for the snow."

Arthur growled, while Francis let out a gentle laugh.

"I'm gonna go get dressed too. Bye Dads."

* * *

Once she was bored of making snow angels, Madeleine wandered over to Alfred, who was in the middle of making a snowman. She poked him, "Hey Alfred, do want to have a snowball fight?"

He turned toward her with a pained expression. "Yea, but I can't hit a girl."

She smiled, "No?" She pushed a snowball down on his head before running behind large rock for shelter, his yells and his first, badly formed snowballs following her.

The next thing she knew, they were both pelting snowballs at each other from behind rocks, both getting hit a fair amount of the times. And then, suddenly, Francis was there beside her. "Daddy, what are you doing here?"

"Joining your team. We decided Arthur would help Alfred while I would help you."

Madeleine groaned, before leaning out of her hiding place to throw her next half-dozen snowballs. "But Daddy, you never win any kind of fight. Even though other Dad might not be great, I'd be better off facing both of them without you."

Francis looked dejected, "My own daughter rejecting me-"

"Ha! I got you!" Arthur's victory cry rang out as a snowball hit Francis' arm.

Madeleine hissed at her father, "Just fight already, Dad. You can complain about your life later over hot chocolate."

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**A/N:** I hope you enjoyed. If you want to check out my tumblr, its .com


	2. Chapter 2: Beginning

**A/N:** I hope you enjoy this newest installment. This is AmeCan with romantic, rather than familiar, feels. It is written in 1st person, which is a little weird for me, so yeah. Just for housekeeping, next chapter will be coming out July 6th; it's the first one with no nyotalia and the relationship is also platonic in it.

Thank you to my reviewers and alertes and favoriters from last chapter.

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Beginning

It had been weird, at first. I mean, we had known each other for so long. But when all of us were at the bar for the after party, and I had defended Alfred's decision not to drink himself silly (though I think Gilbert and maybe Francis were the only other people who heard), he kissed my forehead. It was chaste enough, but I'm sure I smiled back at dopeily (well, it was the 21st; I had an excuse to drink a little). Then he gave me one full on the mouth. The kiss was probably my best birthday present that year, when compared with his other present, a documentary about U.F.O.s, or Gilbert's book on the "bro code".

That bar excursion ended with the two of us in the corner, him with a soda, me with a orange juice, discussing aliens—I was grateful for the scifi novels I read in my teenage years. Eventually, we mutually decided that it was time for everyone to go home. We were the soberest, so we drove home everyone who lived on campus. Arthur, though, and Uncle Allistor, stayed with Alfred, while Francis and his current dame Sesel, were going to stay with her.

I didn't see Alfred again until classes resumed in August, though I hung up a Captain America poster in my room after I went to see it with Gilbert. He had been much entranced with Iron Man, having something of a man-crush on him. I had offered to ask Kiku to make a fan video with the two of them and then send it Elizabeta; he declined with a snarl (such a shame he's still in denial; they would be cute together.)

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I was sitting at a Tim Horton's, perfectly comfortable eating donuts and drinking coffee, when I was greeted by "Dude! You drink your coffee black?" He slid into the seat across from me, his own mocha and a bag of donuts in hand.

I looked away, "Yes."

"But this is so much better. Here try it." He pushed it across the table.

I stared at, considering my past of eating foods that had been tampered with, but no, Alfred had trouble being even slightly devious. "That's gross! You're going to get a heart attack from all of that sugar!"

"Didn't know you cared." He looked down into his coffee, almost dejectedly.

I spluttered. "Alfred, I-"

"Arthur and Francis and Ludwig and a bunch of others are always lecturing me about my eating habits. You don't, Madeleine."

"But I...I just think you have right to eat whatever awful, unhealthy foods you want to. That doesn't mean I don't care."

I stared as Alfred reached out a tentative hand, cupping my face before leaning over the table to kiss me. His mouth was sweet, almost sickeningly so, and I was only saved from drowning in chocolate by a whoop from Lars, who was the cashier today.

Alfred promptly started wolfing down his donuts.

So yeah, it was weird, in the beginning, but then we came to resemble a normal couple, more or less, if a pair of nations could ever be considered normal.


	3. Chapter 3: Flame

**A/N:** I hope you enjoy this. Thank you to all of the reviewers and favoriters and stuff. AS I said last chapter, this one is no nyotalia and mainly platonic feels. The next chapter should come out July ninth. Enjoy!

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**Flame**

Alfred stared into the campfire, watching as the logs slowly burned up. The party had been great this year; there had been lots of fireworks, great food, and everyone had had a great time, even Arthur. And Alfred loved being the center of attention and the receiver of birthday presents. He was even able to find an area of the country that wasn't really dry, so the states could forget about the drought for the party's duration. Well, all except Colorado; he was in the hospital from burns.

There had been one other person who hadn't showed up to the party:Matthew. Alfred had been quite surprised at his brother's absence; even though their political policies were different at times, he and Matthew always treated each other with respect, even if Alfred was slightly neglectful and Matthew a little exasperated, so Alfred wanted to know the reason behind his absence.

Of course, it had been Matthew's birthday a few days ago. His party had been fun too, if smaller. Most invited guests couldn't remember who he was, so they didn't come. Matthew was very responsible; he wouldn't have come until he had cleaned up from his party, but it couldn't have taken this long, Alfred's wouldn't even take over three days.

A croak came from behind him,"Alfred."

Alfred whipped his head around, to see his brother leaning against a tree trunk, looking haggard. "Matthew, I-"

"You must be pretty upset I didn't make it to your party." Matthew walked over to the campfire and sat down next to his brother. "Hand me that hamburger, please." He motioned to a hamburger Alfred had been preparing for himself. Alfred pouted, but handed the hamburger over, which Matthew began to rip through with reckless abandon.

"Dude, you alright?"

Matthew swallowed down the hamburger, "Polar bears."

"What?"

"The reason I couldn't make it. Several polar bears decides to take a wrong turn on their migration path to their celebration in Churchill. They went into some populated areas not used to polar bears marching through. I had to round them up and put them back on the right path."

Alfred slurped his soda, then offering it to Matthew. "Dude, you were hunting polar bears! That is so cool."

Matthew declined the soda, "I've got water, thanks." He took a few gulps from the water thermos hanging off of his camping backpack. "And, not really. Hunting polar bears is illegal. It was more like I was herding them."

"You're excused from missing my party." Alfred grinned, "I did worry."

"Alfred, you ought to know I would never miss your birthday party intentionally." Matthew took off his backpack and began rummaging in it. "Here's your present."

Matthew watched with anticipation as his brother unwrapped his present. "It's a Promethus video game! That's awesome, Mattie. I didn't think it was even out yet."

Matthew smirked. "It isn't."

Alfred gaped. "Dude, even Kiku would have trouble doing that. You can pretty badass at times, Mattie."

Matthew leaned his head back and laughed, "You wanna see badass Mattie? Once we clean this mess up, we can go kayak racing."

"You're on."


	4. Chapter 4: Move

**A/N: Long story short, I hope you enjoy this. Feel free to review and whatever, please. Next update will be the 12th.**

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**Move**

"Move!"

Maddie looked around at the familiar voice, her eyes landing on a blond man trying to shove someone else off of their barstool. She got up, and, hoping to stop a brawl, walked over to him, gently tapping his shoulder. "Sir?"

He turned and barked at her, "What!"

Recognizing him, she hissed. "Dad, what are you doing here?"

"Maddie?" He had to be drunk;if his irrational behavior was proof enough, he always called her Madeleine, never by her nickname,

"Dad, Dad, you're already drunk! What are you doing in a bar?" She started dragging Arthur toward the door, mouthing apologies to the people he had disturbed.

"Ran out of scotch at home."

She paused, looking back him. "How is that even possible?"

"Invited Francis and Antonio over."

She couldn't help but snort. "So you had a pity party with all your old colonizing friends. That's pretty pathetic Dad."

"Children shouldn't insult their parents."

"Ah, but Dad, you also taught me responsibility. That's the tenet of my childhood I'm focusing on now." She helped him into the passenger seat of her hybrid. Sliding into her own seat, she added, "Don't try to correct my driving. In this state you always forget we drive on opposite sides of the road."

"You North American hipsters."

Maddie laughed. "Nice try, Dad. Any other bits of wisdom you'd like to impart on the world?"

"My bum's sore."

She blushed, making a sharp right turn. "Dad...I _really_ don't want to learn about your sex life."

"But I didn't even mention-"

"We're home," she interrupted, jumping out of her car before he could elaborate. She led him up to the front door, groaning when she discovered it was unlocked; that meant Alfred was here, which would only make matters worse.

"You!" Arthur's yell told Maddie that she was right, and as she stepped inside, she saw Alfred, standing straight up in the living room, looking for the source of the yell.

"I was a good father! Look how well Maddie turned out! Why did you have to leave?" Arthur pointed an accusatory finger at Alfred, who disguised his hurt by drinking a large mouthful of soda.

"Where did you find him?" Alfred nodded to Arthur.

"The bar. And he had already drunk himself silly."

Arthur turned on Maddie. "Why didn't you say he would be here?"

"Dad, I've moved in with him. I didn't think of it." To Alfred, she said, "He's having post July fourth depression."

Alfred frowned slightly. "He was fine during the party."

"I didn't let him even look at booze. Just help me get him to bed. Then we can watch...what was it?"

Alfred grinned. "Captain America! Dude, it such an awesome movie!"

"The guy on your movie poster does have a pretty awesome butt." Maddie started half-guiding half-carrying Arthur toward the guest bedroom.

"I'll take him."

Maddie smiled up at Alfred. "Thanks."

"No problem, Maddie."

As the movie's credits rolled to an end, Maddie yawned, laying her head on Alfred's chest. He grinned. "That was pretty awesome, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it was. I don't suppose I can convince you to wear spandex?"

"No, that's gay."

Maddie rolled her eyes. "Yeah, so gay, especially as Superman, who is like the paragon of manliness, wears it. You already have a girlfriend, Alfred, me. And you don't have to convince me of your masculinity."

"Maybe...but only for Halloween."

"That would be nice."


	5. Chapter 5: Prepared

**A/N: **So here is the next chapter. Thank you from all the reviews of the last chapter. I'm not sure when the next one will be out. Enjoy

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**Prepared**

Matthew smiled, breathing in the smell of pine trees and running water. He always enjoyed his visits to Camp Byng, the place where he had spent his teen years as a Venture Scout. It was peaceful, without pesky family or friends always demanding things. Here he could forget his high stress job and become one with nature.

Alfred might tease him about not being athletic, but that wasn't strictly true; besides hockey, (oh, the joys of hockey!) the Canadian scenery had begged him to learn kayaking, canoeing, swimming, hiking, and Matthew dared someone to find a better rock climber.

Dimly, he heard a yell. Stopping to hear better, he realized that someone was calling out for help. Matthew sped up, not quite running toward due to the roughness of the path.

When he reached a clearing and was met with an outcropping of rock with a small waterfall he understood the problem. Someone stupid had decided to climb Gollum's Mouth, the local name for the hardest to climb bluff in area. Matthew had only climbed it once, and that was on a dare.

Said stupid climber seemed to have gotten a hand stuck somewhere and was trying to pull it out. Before Matthew could stop him, the climber pulled it out, but his force caused him to fall back and off and down toward the pool of water at the bottom of the waterfall.

Without hesitating, Matthew dropped his backpack and started running toward the pool, trying to take off his heavier clothing. He jumped in to the water as soon as he reached the edge of pool, grateful it was only September and the water was freezing yet. He swam toward the epicenter of the ripples caused by the climbers fall and went under, trying to find the climber's body.

Eventually, he found the climber's unconscious body and towed him to bank. Matthew eyes widened when he recognized the climber, and he choked. "Al-Alfred!"

Matthew started performing CPR, and after a few moments, Alfred's eyes opened. "Dude, have you been kissing me?"

Matthew stared at him, amazed and angry, before slapping him.

Alfred blinked and reached up to his cheek. "I suppose I deserved that. I-"

"Alfred! Why did you go climbing Gollum's Mouth? You know you're not as good as climber as I am, and that's the hardest climb in this area!"

"It is?"

"Yes, Alfred, it is! You're just lucky that I was passing by and that scouts prepared me for this."

"You mean you weren't kissing me?"'

"No, I was performing CPR. Why would you think I was kissing you?"

Alfred shrugged. "Besides the obvious? Because this." And Alfred pulled Matthew down towards him and kissed him on the mouth. And suddenly, it didn't seem to matter to Matthew that if they didn't change out of their wet clothes they would get sick, nor that Alfred had just nearly drowned, nor that anyone could see them. The clothes would come off soon enough anyways.


	6. Chapter 6: Look

**A/N: Someone requested a fem!America. There aren't many fem!America CanAme fics, so I didn't have many examples, but I hope this is okay anyway. Also if anyone ever wants to request something, be my guest. **

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**Look**

Amelia straightened her button-up shirt as they started up the concrete stairs. "Why did we have to dress up again?"

Matthew smiled over at his girlfriend of only a few weeks. Even though he had had a crush on Amelia for a long time, his shyness and her obliviousness meant it took a while for Matthew to work up enough guts to plainly ask her out, rather than just hinting at his affections. "You look fine, 'Mia. More than fine."

She grinned down at him. Usually, Matthew was an inch taller than her, but Amelia's black pumps made her two inches taller than him. He had enough trouble proving he was male, and now her height would just make it worse, even if her breasts were in no way disguised by her dress shirt. "I hate dressing up!"

"You're the one who wanted to come to this so badly, 'Mia. I was perfectly content to have movie night. I had even rented the movie already." Tonight was the night of a full lunar eclipse, the event of the summer, and all graduate students were invited to the astronomy building for a chance to see the eclipse through the building's telescope.

"I'm in the science department. I had to come. Besides, eclipses are really cool. I just don't know why we had to dress up." She found his hand and squeezed. "Hey, I see Kiku. Let's go talk to him." Amelia started to pull them over to their friend, who was standing outside the main thoroughfare, greeting his friends as they came along.

Amelia had met Kiku during undergrad; they had shared a few classes, he as a calculus major and she as a physics major. Over time, he had joined their small circle of friends and was one of the few people Matthew felt comfortable talking to, usually about their shared love of poetry. "Hello Amelia, Matthew."

"Hi Kiku!" Amelia gave him a giant bear hug, which he returned, stiffly. Considering the first time she had done this, he had reacted swiftly with jujutsu, the Japanese exchange student had gotten much more comfortable with western customs. "I like your kimono."

Kiku bowed. "Thank you Amelia." Matthew stood aside as Amelia and Kiku started discussing one of the latest video games, comparing pros and cons. Meanwhile, he scanned the crowd for people he knew.

He spotted Ivan almost immediately; the second generation Russian immigrant was tall and could afford his own tux, unlike most of the graduate students. Amelia and Matthew had been friends with Ivan for a long time, though it had been rocky at times for Ivan had nasty habit of keeping grudges.

Matthew rubbed his eyes. Yao was also there, at the edge of the crowd, sitting at a booth selling a variety of things, from the works of Confucious to palm readings.

Matthew continued scanning the crowd, eventually turning his gaze inside the building. " 'Mia, can we go see Professor Bonnefoy?"

"She's here?" Amelia turned to Matthew in surprise. "But she's in the creative writing department, isn't she?"

"She is, but she's also the fiance of Professor Kirkland. You know, the guy who teaches all the evolution classes. She's also waving at us."

"Then let's go say hi, Mattie." She grabbed his hand and started dragged him toward the building, Matthew muttering a quick good-bye to Kiku before they got to the doors.

Someone whistled. "My, Mattie, you look sharp in a suit." Professor Bonnefoy greeted him with _fair la bise_.

"You look nice too, _madame. _Purple is a nice color on you."

Professor Bonnefoy chuckled. "Marianne raised you right, Mattie." She turned to Amelia. "And it is nice you see you again, Amelia."

Amelia received the same greeting, more awkwardly than Matthew, who had been raised by a French woman, but nonplussed non the less. "Yes, I think I last saw you at Mattie's birthday."

"Francoise." The three of them turned to look at the approaching voice. Professor Kirkland, dressed in formal wear with a cutaway coat and top hat, came over, scowling. "What are you doing to these poor students?"

"Arthur, this is Matthew Williams, one of my best students, and, incidentally, my nephew. He's the son of my sister Marianne. And this" Professor Bonnefoy gestured at Amelia, "is his girlfriend. I believe she is in your department."

Professor Kirkland nodded to them. "Yes, it's very nice to meet you, but you might want to go get in line. They're starting to let students go up to the telescope."

Amelia asked, "What about you two?"

"They already let faculty see the eclipse. It's quite fascinating."

Almost immediately, Amelia began trotting over to where a line was forming. She looked back at Matthew who was still standing with the professors, "Well come on, Mattie. If we get through this quickly, we can still go back to your apartment and watch Star Trek."


	7. Chapter 7: Tremble

**A/N: **This one-shot is about Amelia's and Madeleine's relationship as sisters, though originally I had wanted it to be more romantic (then Maddie's age dropped a few too many years)

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**Tremble**

Maddie bit her lip, trembling as she watched the hand rise and start coming toward her.

"Stop!" The voice was strong and loud and _female._ It couldn't be Francoise; she could pull off an aristocratic tone, Maddie had never heard her intone such round, brave voice.

The hand withdrew, and Maddie watched Arthur's eyes widened. "Amelia?"

Maddie turned, and it _was_ her sister, dressed in an oversized bomber jacket and a camo skirt. Forgetting Arthur, she stood up and ran over to her sister, who greeted her with a giant hug. " 'Mia!" It had been ages since Maddie last saw her sister, for ever since Amelia left their home, they would only see each other occasionally.

"Maddie." Amelia kissed the top of Maddie's head, then released the hug and leaned down so their eyes were level, placing her hands on Maddie's shoulders. "Are you okay, Maddie? I don't see many bruises, but you look pretty bad."

"I'm...fine, 'Mia. Better than ever, in fact."

"Amelia, what are you doing here?" The two sisters looked at Arthur.

Amelia took a few steps toward him, pulling Maddie behind her. "I'm Maddie with me."

"What?" He looked scandalized.

"I'm taking her with me. I should have insisted I take her with me when I left, but she was so young; I was worried I wouldn't be able to provide for her, and I had hoped you were going to get better. You haven't."

Maddie pulled on her sister's sleeve. "But 'Mia, he _has _gotten better. Besides, he needs someone."

"He doesn't need you, not anymore. Maddie, go pack your stuff." Maddie looked up into her sister's face. She had the same hard determined expression that Arthur often wore, and though Maddie knew her sister would never hurt her, she knew better than to disobey that look.

As she climbed the stairs to her room, she heard yelling start downstairs. They were even louder than they were last time, when Amelia had left, tired of Arthur's abuse.

Her room was too far away from the kitchen to hear anything but the reverberations in the house caused by yells. She found her suitcase in her closet and started stuffing her clothes inside, whatever she might need. She wished she could pack the glow-in-the-dark stars she had, stuck onto her ceiling. They had been a birthday present from Amelia, just before she left. Maybe Maddie could get some more for her new home.

The suitcase was too heavy for her to carry down the stairs, so she dragged it, wincing at each bump. By the time she had gotten back down to the kitchen, the shouting had stopped. Both Arthur and Amelia were sitting down at the kitchen table, glaring at each other.

"'Mia, I'm ready to go."

"I'll get your bag, Maddie." Amelia walked over and picked up Maddie's bag, then walking over to the door.

Maddie went over to Arthur. "Daddy?"

"Madeleine."

"I hope...I hope I get too see you again."

Arthur smiled, slightly. "That would be nice, Madeleine. I hope...you have a nice life with Amelia."

"Course I will. She's my big sister."

Amelia looked over from the door. "Maddie, come on."

"Bye Daddy."

"Good-bye, Madeleine."

Maddie shuffled over to her sister, who held the door open for her. Amelia leaned back into the kitchen. "You want my advice, _Dad._ Get over your mid-life crisis. You're never going to be the biggest empire in the world again."

Amelia closed the door and looked down at her sister. "So, d'you wanna go out for ice cream?"


	8. Chapter 8: Promise

**A/N: adsfjkl! **I really like this one. Thanks for all the reviews people. This was inspired/prompted/some word by Her Awesomness, where one of them gets hurt. **  
**

She's also suggested that I do PruCan fic. I'm thinking about Eleven Days of Annoyance: Buy Ten Get One Free as the title. What do you think?  
Anyway I hope you like this.

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**Promise**

Matthew opened hi eyes, straining to see in the pitch black of his bedroom. Something wasn't right. He heard slight bumps that sounded like they were coming from the living room.

Suddenly, the bell rang. At least it wasn't burglars, though he supposed they were trying a new strategy of attack, rather than just sneaking into the house, because who would come at three in morning.

Getting up, Matthew pulled an oversized hoodie over his bare chest and boxers before leaving his bedroom.

As Matthew started fiddling with the lock he asked, "Who's there?" When there was no response, he opened the door, ever so cautiously, and Amelia nearly fell into him.

"'Mia! What's wrong?" But he could tell for himself. Her face was streaked with dirt and grime and blood, and the dark spandex suit she was wearing was torn up so much that it barely resembled clothes. And then, if things couldn't get worse she fell on top of him.

Now, Matthew wasn't as girly as all of their friends seemed to think. He might not play football or baseball, but he'd like to see someone beat him at hockey (and why were sports regarded as a more masculine activity anyway). He didn't faint either—though fainting was actually pretty rare in real life anyway—but if anyone were to ask whether he or Amelia would be more likely to do, the answer would be Matthew, so a half dead Amelia leaning on him pushed him into full panic mode.

He managed to pull her into the house and lay her down on the couch, kicking the door close and flipping the overhead light on. " 'Mia! You've been shot!"

She didn't respond.

" 'Mia!" He shook her. "Amelia you have to wake up! I have to get you to a hospital!"

She looked up blearily. "Can't."

"Why not?"

"People'll find out who I am."

"What's wrong with—oh." Her suit, which had appeared dark and featureless in the dark, was that of one of the vigilantes in New York. He wasn't that surprised; Amelia had a habit getting involved in 'heroic' things.

"Mattie," talking was a struggle for her, "Mattie, you know first aid. Can't you...do something?"

He stared at her. She was right; he did know first aid and a little more from scouts. He had only done things like this, however, on a dummy, where there wasn't actually a life in danger. All the same, if she refused to go to the hospital...

"Amelia, I need for you to stay awake while I go gather the stuff I need around the house. Okay, sing or recite times tables or something."

She nodded and started belting out the American National Anthem.

Matthew returned to the living room just as she finished the Star and Stripes Forever. "If you're done insulting my national pride, 'Mia, the doctor's ready."

She grinned in spite of her pain. "Wasn't insulting yours. Just bolstering mine."

He smiled back at her and kneeled down by her leg. "This is going to hurt, a lot. So just try to stay awake and vent as much as you need. Scream, or pull him hair, or whatever."

A minute later, he regretted telling her that; he was sure that he was going to be bald in a few minutes. Still, he managed to take out the bullet, which fortunately wasn't buried deeply into her leg, and clean the wound with steady hands, serenaded by Amelia's chants of "Fuck, fuck,fuck, fuck, fuck," with the occasional, "shit!" and "sonofabitch!" thrown in there.

* * *

The next morning, the two of them woke up in Matthew's bed, both fine and alive.

"Mattie?"

"Hmm?"

"Thanks a lot for fixing me up last night."

He looked at her and smiled. "It was no problem. Wasn't like I had much choice. But I am taking you to a doctor once we get dressed."

Her eyes widened. "But he'll want to know what happened! And why I got shot!"

Matthew shook his head. "Not this doctor." He smiled. "Amelia, if you're going to be a superhero, you're going need to have a few emergency contacts. It's part of the resume."

"How would you know?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Obviously, I am just a quiet, goody-two-shoes, who has never done anything even the slightest bit illegal, not even download music illegally."

"You mean you haven't ever done that!"

* * *

About a month later, Amelia had resumed her patrols on the New York Streets. She had had a vague feeling all night that someone was following her, but wasn't sure of it until now.

"I want you to come out of the shadows and tell me who you are and why you're following me."

Slowly the figure emerged from the shadows. It was a man, about height and a slight build. He face was hidden by a mask and in his hand he carried a giant longbow. "Haven't you heard the rumors about a vigilante from Toronto moving here? The rumors were true."

"So what? Why are you following me?"

"One of my best friends nearly died, and afterward, I made a promise to myself."

"And that involves you following me?"

"Yes."


End file.
